Violin support

ABSTRACT

A violin support for correct holding of the instrument when playing has a longitudinal rest member with two fork-shaped jaws at the ends thereof. The jaws engage the sidewall of the instrument and their position is adjustable with regard to the rest member in upright and longitudinal directions to enable proper positioning of the instrument and to allow the use of the support for various sizes of violins. The rest member is hand deformable and thus adjustable to the shape of the player&#39;&#39;s shoulder portion backing the support.

United States Patent [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS2,697,374 12/1954 Ungh 84/280 2,575,569 1l/195l Ungh 84/280 FOREIGNPATENTS 296,363 2/l 954 Switzerland 84/278 119,787 9/ 1959 U.S.S.R.84/278 Primary Examiner-Richard B. Wilkinson Assistant ExaminerJohn F.Gonzales ABSTRACT: A violin support for correct holding of theinstrument when playing has a longitudinal rest member with twofork-shaped jaws at the ends thereof. The jaws engage the sidewall ofthe instrument and their position is adjustable with regard to the restmember in upright and longitudinal directions to enable properpositioning of the instrument and to allow the use of the support forvarious sizes of violins. The rest member is hand deformable and thusadjustable to the shape of the players shoulder portion backing thesupport.

PATENTED JAN 4 I972 FIGZ VIOLINSUPPORT BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Thisinvention relates to a removable support for violins and similarinstruments such as'violas etc. Violin supports of this type are'widelyused by bothstudent and professional players to obtain proper andcomfortable. holding of the instrument when playing.

For onereason or another the supports presently-known do A not meet allthe requirements for both comfortable and proper holding of theinstrument mainly because of a limited adjustability.

The known supports have their part to be backed by the players shouldereither rigid or resilient. As the shape of the player's shoulder portionto back the support is widely variable depending on the players bodyproportions, the rigid supports cannot confonn to the shape of eachindividual players shoulder, while the resilient type is disadvantageousbecause it does not assure a really firm holding of the instrument. Someof the known supports make it possible to adjust the longitudinalinclination of the support with regard to the violin but an adjustmentof side inclination can only be accomplished by placing the violin witha support somewhat forward or backward on the shoulder which results inmissing a really firm and comfortable holding.

Still another disadvantage of the presently known supports is that theyare incapable of adjusting the distance between the support and theinstrument which results in an uncomfortable holding by players withshorter or longer necks.

The presently known supports can only be used with one size of violinand cannot be adjusted to various sizes of the instruments.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The primary object of the invention is toprovide a violintype instrument support which would improve thepossibilities of adjusting of the distance between the support and theinstrument.

It is another object of this invention to provide a support which willmake it possible to use a single support for a number of sizes ofviolins, violas etc.

It is further object of the invention to provide a support which has ahand-deformable pad to be backed by the players shoulder to obtain afirm and comfortable holding.

Still another object of this invention is to provide a support whichmakes it possible to adjust side inclination of the supported instrumentwith regard to the resting pad of the support.

These and other objects of the present invention will become apparentfrom the following description of a preferred embodiment of theinvention with reference to the accompanying drawing.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 is a side view showing thesupport according to this invention attached to a violin body;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the support with the left side partly insection; and

FIG. 3 is a side elevation of the support as shown in FIG. 2, with theleft-hand side shown complete.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Referring now particularly to FIG. 2 and FIG. 3,the numeral l designates rest means which, with the support in use,rests against a players shoulder. The rest means 1 is joined, e.g.cemented, to a stiffener means 2. The stiffener means 2 is made fromaluminum metal sheet suitable for manual deformation and for maintainingits shape after the deformation. The rest means 1 and the stiffenermeans 2 form a strip member 3.

Fitted to the stifi'ener means 2 are four screws 4 two of which arepositioned at one, and the other two at the other end of the stripmember 3. Each of the screws 4 has a nut 5.

The nuts 5 fix two terminal members 6, 7, to the stiffener means 2. Theterminal members 6, 7, are made from a metal sheet material. Theleft-hand tenninal member 6 is provided with a number of holes 8 thediameter of which is slightly greater than the outer diameter of thescrews 4. The holes 8\ (cf. FIG. 2) are arranged in a row which issubstantially paral,-. lel to the longitudinal axis of the strip member3. The holes are spaced each from the other by a half of the distanceexisting between the two left-hand side screws 4. This arrangement makesit possible to fix the terminal member 6 in a plurality of 10 to whichthe lower end of a holder 11 is joined by means of a rivet 12. Theholder 11 has a threaded hole the lower end of which terminates in closeproximity to the rivet 12. The threaded hole is arranged for receiving athreaded stud 13. Fixed to the upper end of the stud 13 is a fork member14 made from a metal core 15 covered with an antislipping coating 16.

The opposite terminal member 7 is analogical to the above describedtenninal member 6 and has a similar upright end, portion 17 joined by arivet 18 with a holder 19 having a threaded hole receiving a threadedstud 20 the upper end of which is provided with a fork member 21 made ofa metal core covered with an antislipping resilient coating.

The fork members 14, 21 form gripping means for attaching the support toa violin body 22 (FIG. 1

The support as described makes it possible to obtain a plurality of firmand comfortable violin holding positions according to individual playerstaste. This is made possible by several features of this invention.First of all, employing of the stiffener means 2 made from a materialcapable of being hand deformed enables the contour of the strip member 3to be adapted by the player himself to correspond to his shoulderportion shape. Secondly, the cross inclination of the ment is adjustableby screwing the threaded studs 13, 20 into or out of the holders 1 l, 19to adjust the position of the instrument in the directions 8, C,(FIG. 1) respectively. The desired position of the instrument withregard to the direction indicated by the arrow A (FIG. 1) is achieved bycorresponding choice of the holes 8, 9 of the terminal members 6, 7respectively, to engage the screws 4. The latter feature also enables toachieve a plurality of distances between the fork members 14, 21 therebymaking it possible to use one support for various sizes of violins andfor violas. Finally, a desired inclination of the instrument with regardto the longitudinal axis of the same can be achieved by tilting thestrip member 3 around the axes of the rivets 12, 18.

The above description of the preferred embodiment of this invention isto be supposed to be an example only. It will be apparent to thoseskilled in the art that several modifications of the support design arepossible within the scope of the invention as defined by the followingclaims.

I claim:

1. A violin-type instrument support for holding the instrument whenplaying the same, comprising, in combination, a longitudinal stripmember with terminal members at opposite ends thereof and connected tothe same, each of said terminal members being provided with grippingmeans for attaching said support to the instrument, said gripping meansbeing formed by a fork-shaped member adapted to engage a side wall ofthe instrument, saidfork-shaped member being provided with a threadedstud, said stud being in an engagement with a sleeve connected to oneterminal member and provided with inner thread, whereby the uprightdistance between said fork-shaped member and the longitudinal axis ofsaid strip member can be adjusted by rotating said stud in or out ofsaid sleeve.

member includes a rest means and a stiffener means joined each to theother, said stifiener means being made of a material capable to bemanually deformed and to maintain its shape after such deformation,whereby said strip member can easily be formed to conform to the shapeof the instrument player's shoulder portion backing said rest means.

t i i i

1. A violin-type instrument support for holding the instrument whenplaying the same, comprisIng, in combination, a longitudinal stripmember with terminal members at opposite ends thereof and connected tothe same, each of said terminal members being provided with grippingmeans for attaching said support to the instrument, said gripping meansbeing formed by a fork-shaped member adapted to engage a side wall ofthe instrument, said fork-shaped member being provided with a threadedstud, said stud being in an engagement with a sleeve connected to oneterminal member and provided with inner thread, whereby the uprightdistance between said fork-shaped member and the longitudinal axis ofsaid strip member can be adjusted by rotating said stud in or out ofsaid sleeve.
 2. A support as claimed in claim 1, wherein at least one ofsaid terminal members is adjustably mounted on said strip member forholding said terminal member in an adjusted distance from the oppositeterminal member, whereby the support is adaptable for use with varioussizes of violin-type instruments.
 3. A support as claimed in claim 1,wherein said strip member includes a rest means and a stiffener meansjoined each to the other, said stiffener means being made of a materialcapable to be manually deformed and to maintain its shape after suchdeformation, whereby said strip member can easily be formed to conformto the shape of the instrument player''s shoulder portion backing saidrest means.